Minute to win it: end of week two

It's the end of week two of my Minute to Win it competition. I've been doing pretty good so far.  I take pictures of the clock when I start and when I end so I don't miscalculate my time.  Here's what I've done thus far.

1/10 - On Tuesday I went downstairs at 7:43pm.  I ran 5 miles and stretched for 10 minutes.  Then I did 14 minutes on the stationary bike.  My total time was 64 minutes that day.

1/11 - I missed working out this day.  Wednesdays are difficult because of Bible study that night.

1/12 - I went downstairs at 6:58pm and did the stationary bike for 60 minutes as I listened to a conference call with some people in Singapore for work.  I took an hour break and then went back downstairs at 8:58pm and walked on the treadmill for 67 minutes while I listened to another conference call for work with the same people in Singapore.

1/13 - Friday we traveled to Phoenix so I could run the Arizona marathon.  I walked through the airport from the Marta to gate D9 instead of taking the train.  It took 20 minutes.

1/14 - Saturday was the race expo.  While I did a good deal of walking, I didn't time any of it because it was off and on, and not constant.  So no minutes to count here.

1/15 - I ran the Arizona marathon in 4 hours and 3 minutes for a total of 243 minutes of exercise.  I stretched for longer than 10 minutes and also had to walk a way to my car, but I didn't time myself, so I'm not counting that.  We also went bowling afterwards.  Rob thinks I could count some time bowling, but again, since it wasn't constant exercise, I'm not counting it.

1/16 - We flew back on Monday, and again I counted the walking from gate D2 to the Marta as 20 minutes of exercise.

1/17 - I took Tuesday off.  I needed a day off to recover from the marathon.

1/18 -  I ran 8 miles on Wednesday.  It took me 80 minutes.  It was a hard run, as I was still recovering, but it was a good one.  I stretched for at least 10 minutes after my run.

1/19 - I got up at 4:41am and ran a 7 miler.  It took me 64 minutes to run.  I stretched for 10 minutes afterwards.  I went back downstairs after putting Alan to bed and did some strength training starting at 8:23pm for 30 minutes.  I did an arm tabata, abs, pushups, and planks.

1/20 - I woke up at 4:51am and did 20 minutes of ab work.  After work, I went downstairs at 8:05pm and did 60 minutes on the stationary bike and 20 minutes of strength.  For my strength workout I did squats, lunges, the resistance band, and the weight bar.

1/21 - Yesterday I set out to run 15 miles.  I got caught in a thunderstorm, so I had to take a mid-run break to wait out the storm.  While waiting under the awning of a random office building, I ran in place.  I had to do that about 20 minutes while the storm passed.  I ended up running only 13.12 miles total by the time I got back to my car - soaking wet.  Oh, well.  At least I still got the full 150 minutes of exercise in.
Last night Rob came downstairs with me and we listened to Luke on the CD player while I exercised.  I did some ab work, my arm tabata, and some butt exercises, which took 53 minutes total.  Then I walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes while we listened to the rest of the CD.

So I didn't meet my goal of 120 mins per day, but I am getting better each week.  The first week I averaged 44 minutes of cardio and 11 minutes of strength each day. The second week I averaged 90 minutes of cardio and 18 minutes of strength each day.

Time to kick it up another notch!

Minute to Win it Day one

I have a feeling that they are not going to believe me when I turn in my tracker for the Minute to Win it challenge at work, so I'm going to document my exercise well.  The Minute to Win it challenge is for 13 weeks starting today.  For every minute of exercise, you get a point.  Whoever has the most points at the end of the 13 week period gets an iPad.  I am going to do everything I can to win that iPad.  My goal is 120 minutes or more of exercise six days a week.

This morning I ran 5 miles this morning in 50 minutes and stretched for 10 minutes.  Tonight after I put Alan to bed, I did an hour strength circuit, five minutes of ab work, and five minutes of stationary bike.  My strength circuit came out of a running magazine and consisted of three sets of each of the following exercises:  hamstring curls, single-leg reaches, single-leg squats, band rotations, posterior reaches, lunges, push-ups, planks, step-ups, biceps curls, and triceps extensions.  I'm exhausted.  Time for bed.

2011 at a glance

Well, it's a new year, which is a good time to reflect on the past year. 2011 was a great year for me. It started out rough, but ended very well. Here is the year at a glance.

January was the first time Alan sat up unassisted. He turned five months. Alan was sleeping through the night by this point, but I was still nursing, which means I was getting no sleep. I took my first work trip out of town, which was a nice little break.

February was a tough month for me. I was signed up for the Myrtle Beach marathon, but wasn't trained enough to run it. I had some rough bouts of postpartum depression mostly caused by frustrations with lack of time and trying to fit running into my new mom schedule. It took me a long time to get back into the swing of things. Alan was sitting up on his own and even took his first ride in a shopping cart.

March brought with it Alan's first tooth....and his second tooth...and teething pain. My little man who had slept through the night was all of a sudden waking up three times during the night. With the pumping in the middle of the night and Alan waking up several times a night, I got no sleep.

April, when Alan was almost eight months, he started walking if we held onto both of his hands. He still hadn't crawled, but all he wanted to do was have us help him walk. In preparation for going back to daycare, Alan learned how to hold his own bottle. This month I started my Couch to Marathon training in preparation for the Outer Banks Marathon in November. I was officially fitting running back into my routine.

May was my 32nd birthday and my first Mothers Day with a child outside of the womb. I ran my first 10k since Alan was born. I missed my time goal by about 2 seconds. Alan turned nine months and learned to crawl this month. He was still walking every chance he could get us to hold his hands. He also cut his fourth tooth. He started running with me in the jogging stroller before work three times a week. Alan also went to his first professional baseball game - the Winston-Salem Dash minor league game during a roadtrip to Amy's house.

June was Alan's first trip to the beach and my first roadtrip with a baby and no husband. Rob stayed home as I went to Myrtle Beach to meet some of the mommas and babies born in the same month as Alan. Alan hated the sand, but loved the lazy river and the kiddie pool. Alan started saying his second word, "uh-oh" this month.

July was the month that I stepped up my training and focused on the marathon. I ran the Peachtree Road Race, but didn't do nearly as good as I had wanted. Alan was crawling all over the place and walking one-handed. He also had his first visit to the zoo.

August was a huge month for both mommy and baby. Alan turned one this month, which meant that I got to stop pumping. I had my first night of uninterrupted sleep in a year. I was still nursing mornings and nights, but I stopped pumping every day that I was with Alan. I could really start to get back to normal. Alan also converted from a diet of purees to table food.

September was Alan's first Braves game. He also started walking on his own. We took a roadtrip to West Virginia for the Luce family reunion. I officially stopped both nursing and pumping when I went out of town for work. I finally had my body back.

In October Alan and I went to Touch a Tractor while Rob was at a football game. Alan started learning a lot more words, although most of them were not understandable to anyone who wasn't around him often. He was able to point at a lot of different things if you asked him where they were.

In November I ran my first marathon since having Alan. I missed my time goal by about 7 minutes, but I could officially call myself a marathon mom. It was the first Thanksgiving that Alan could eat solids, so he was able to enjoy some of the Thanksgiving feast. Matt and Mimi came to visit over Thanksgiving and I ran my first half marathon since Alan was born. That race was very important, since I tried to run it the year before, and had to drop out after mile 5.

December brought with it a language explosion. Alan started trying to repeat almost any word you would tell him to say. Most of them are still not well enunciated, so they are hard for others to understand, but he's getting there. The whole family came for Christmas, and Alan was able to say every one's name. He also was able to help unwrap his gifts and enjoyed playing with his new toys.

2011 turned out well. I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us.